Revised proposals: the two omissions
1 Article IV-445 Simplified revision procedure concerning internal union policies and action.
This would have allowed the Government to agree to changes in most of the EU's internal policies. Oireachtas approval would have been required, but a referendum would not.
The policies involved would have included economic and monetary policy, the free movement of people, justice and security, immigration, transport, social policy and the environment. It would have excluded defence and taxation.
2 Article 1-41 (3) Permanent Structured Co-operation on Defence.
This would have allowed the Government to decide in the future, without referendum but with Oireachtas approval, to join a group of EU member states who agreed to greater co-operation between their armed forces. The tasks for which this co-operation is designed are, according to the treaty, "joint disarmament operations, humanitarian and rescue tasks, military advice and assistance tasks, conflict prevention and peacekeeping tasks, tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking and post-conflict stabilisation". This would have included a commitment to "progressively improve" the State's military capabilities, and to take measures "to strengthen the industrial and technological base of the defence sector" and "to participate in defining a European capabilities and armaments policy". It would not have involved a mutual defence commitment, and the State would have retained the right to opt into or out of any military operation.
Both these options will still remain in the European treaty and will be available to future governments. But, by not enshrining these options in the Irish Constitution, their future exercise will be governed by the relevant Irish constitutional requirements. In the first case, there will be a requirement for a referendum if there is a major change to the remit of the EU and its institutions. In the second case, there will remain a requirement that Dáil approval be obtained for Defence Forces peacemaking, or other active service that amounts to participation in military action.